The Most Influential Video Games in History

As a great lover of video games. I want to dedicate this post to reviewing those who have consider the most influential in history.

The video game market has experienced a spectacular boom in recent years, surpassing turnover markets such as music and cinema.

Before, it was consider something “only for geeks”, but now it is a hobby shared by millions worldwide.

The spectacular evolution that the sector has undergone, thanks to technological advances. Makes it possible to “live” almost photorealistic adventures of any genre imaginable.

But what we enjoy today would not be possible without a series of games that laid the foundations of their respective genres.

Most influential video games by genre

We will try to highlight the video games that have most influence each genre into which they are divided.

Platforms

The platform genre has been one of the most important in the history of video games.

Super Mario Bros is the most powerful video game saga in this genre.

The character’s first appearance came in Donkey Kong ( 1981 ), but Nintendo’s first own plumber game was Mario Bros ( 1983 ).

Since then, it has been evolving, going from 2D to 3D, and introducing new and surprising mechanics in each new instalment.

Games starring Mario are the most influential in the platform genre.

Matamarcianos

Although it is a genre with little relevance today, the “shoot ’em up” ( shoot them up in English ) were all the rage in arcades and on the first video game consoles.

As the name suggests, they consist of shooting aliens or enemy ships, usually from an isometric or side-scrolling view.

The video game that popularized this genre was Space Invaders, released in 1978.

First Person Shooter (FPS)

One of the utmost common video game genres today (especially in its multiplayer aspect) is the first-person shooter or First Person Shooter.

The most famous current franchises are Call Of Duty and Battlefield, but the one that laid the foundations and made the genre famous was Doom ( 1993 ).

Adventures

Adventure video games have evolved a lot since their origins, and in many cases, they offer a gigantic open world for us to explore at our whim.

Its mechanics are very varied and usually include elements of exploration, puzzle-solving, fighting, and platforms.

In their origins, they were much smaller worlds, but they already included many of their main mechanics.

The Legend Of Zelda ( 1986 ) is the most influential in this genre, marking a before and after thanks to the great freedom it offered the player.

The importance of GTA III ( 2001 ) in open-world adventure video games should also highlight due to its huge open world full of details and activities.

Fight

It was one of the most popular genres and currently continues to have good representatives and wildly loyal fans.

If we had to stay with a single representative in the fighting genre, it would be Street Fighter II ( 1991 ).

Due to its success, other trendy franchises, such as Tekken , Mortal Kombat or Soulcalibur, were subsequently launch.

Survival-Horror

The primary keys to this genre are an oppressive setting, a shortage of ammunition and resources, puzzle solving, and enemies that will scare us more than once.

Although Resident Evil ( 1996 ) is the best known and probably an essential saga, the video game Alone In The Dark ( 1992 ) must cited as a horror and survival genre precursor.

 RPG (role-playing games)

The father of the modern RPG is Final Fantasy ( 1987 ). Which reach its most significant peak of popularity with Final Fantasy VII ( 1997 ).

The Pokemon saga must also be consider one of the most popular and influential in later games.

Some more modern representatives of role-playing games are The Elders Scrolls or the Dark Souls saga, characterized by their great difficulty.

Driving/sports

Gran Turismo ( 1997 ) may be one of the most relevant in the driving genre, as it was the first to offer realistic driving.

Others that we can mention, but with a more arcade focus, are OutRun, Mario Kart, or Daytona USA.

Within sports, we find sagas like FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer in football or NBA 2K representative of basketball games.

Other sports games like Virtua Tennis and Tony Hawk Pro Skater are also notable.

Various / puzzles

This section will include video games that are most difficult to fit into a specific genre.

Here we find authentic video game icons. Such as Pong ( 1972 ), Pac-Man ( 1980 ), and Tetris ( 1984 ), which started the puzzle genre.